Field Guides Tour Report THAILAND 2020 Jan 16, 2020 to Feb 6, 2020 Jay VanderGaast & Uthai Treesucon For our tour description, itinerary, past triplists, dates, fees, and more, please VISIT OUR TOUR PAGE. Participant Craig Caldwell captured this wonderful shot of a shimmering male Green Peafowl with part of his harem of peahens as they strolled along the track ahead of us at a forest reserve near Chiang Mai. Each year I do this tour, I think back to the previous year and think "this tour can't possibly be as good as last year's", but so far, I'm happy to report, I've been wrong. Each and every trip I've done here has been superlative in almost every way imaginable, thanks to the combination of an incredibly diverse avifauna, one of my favorite cuisines in the world, and easily the most amazing, attentive ground crew on any tour I've done. This year's tour was no exception, as we roamed the country, tallying an astounding assortment of gorgeous birds, and enjoying exemplary service (and food) from Wat, Kaew, Nat, Jiang, and Jock. I'm just glad they don't weigh me before and after the trip! All that said, the tour wasn't without its bumps, and one big bump in particular was a particular thorn in the sides of the guides, that being the elusiveness of one of the marquee birds of the tour--Spoon-billed Sandpiper. We spent more than a little time scouring the swarms of shorebirds in search of this rarity, striking out in our allotted time along the coast. But a change in our plans a few days later found us making one last visit to the Kok Kham Nature Reserve, and there, with the assistance of one of Uthai's innumerable local contacts, we finally laid eyes on the prize, and enjoyed long and satisfying views of a lone Spoonie feeding in the shallow waters of one of the salt pans. The number of votes this bird received as bird of the trip made it clear that it was well worth the effort to find this special bird. Of course, there were plenty of other great birds to occupy our time before we connected with the main prize. A mixed flock of two other scarce waders- -Asian Dowitcher and Nordmann's Greenshanks-- was another good find along the coast, as were uncommon species like Black-headed Ibis, Spot-billed Pelican, and Slender-billed Gull. Painted Storks, and a trio of kingfishers (Common, Collared, and Black-capped) added some much-needed color to the shorebird scene. Meanwhile, in nearby Kaeng Krachan NP, we enjoyed our first taste of SE Asian forest birding, and what a taste it was! Four species of hornbills, including the difficult Rusty-cheeked, numerous woodpeckers, from the tiny Heart-spotted and Buff-rumped to both Greater and Lesser Flameback, and three colorful broadbills--Banded, Black-and-yellow, and Black-and-red--were among the highlights for many. But not to be overlooked were fantastic species like Violet Cuckoo, multiple Orange-breasted Trogons, nesting Large Woodshrike, stunning Sultan Tits, Velvet-fronted Nuthatch, and many, many more. And the mammal show was pretty great too, with a memorable encounter with an elephant spraying itself down at one of the waterholes, Field Guides Birding Tours • www.fieldguides.com • 800-728-4953 1 some great close studies of the soulful-looking Dusky Leaf Monkeys, and my first ever views of Stump-tailed Macaque, also at a waterhole. Our time in the south concluded at Khao Yai NP, north of Bangkok, where a spectacular male Silver Pheasant displayed on the road ahead of us, a pair of Red- headed Trogons gave us a short but awesome show along the roadside, and a female Banded Kingfisher treated us to a long scope view up at the military checkpoint. Black-and-buff Woodpecker, a shimmering male Asian Emerald Cuckoo, brilliant Long-tailed Broadbills, a sneaky Eared Pitta (for almost everyone), some confiding Black-throated Laughingthrushes, a beautiful male Siberian Blue Robin, and gorgeous Asian Fairy Bluebirds were just a few of the others that enlivened our visit to the park. Mammals were pretty good here, too, and in particular, the two species of gibbons. A couple of White- handed Gibbons put on a great show as they foraged for figs in a fruiting tree along the road, while a couple of Pileated Gibbons were a bit more reticent, though, given that they are rarely seen, that show was pretty good, too! We had one final highlight in the south which I think deserves mention here, and that was our final lunch on the way back to Bangkok. It was a real treat to enjoy such a delicious lunch at that tiny restaurant in that small, out of the way town, especially given the fact that we were apparently the first foreign visitors the talented chef had ever entertained there! I'll bet we won't be the last--that soft-shell crab is worth the trip alone! The excitement continued as we headed north to Chiang Mai, and headed into the various mountain parks in the northwest corner of the country. We kicked off our time here with my best encounters yet with the magnificent Green Peafowl at the Huai Hong Khrai Royal Project, than zipped south for a quick visit to Mae Ping NP. Brief though it was, the visit was definitely memorable, as we tallied a bunch of great birds including White-bellied and Great Slaty Woodpeckers (among 8 woodpecker species recorded here!), the dainty Collared Falconet, a pair of copulating White-rumped Falcons, Burmese Nuthatch, Red-billed Blue Magpie, and plenty more. Next up was a series of visits to some of the highest mountains in the country, starting at the highest--Doi Inthanon, at 8415 feet. In the crisp, clear air near the top, we reveled in our excellent looks at some gorgeous highland birds: gaudy Green-tailed and Mrs Gould's sunbirds, a beautiful male Blue-fronted Redstart, silvery-voiced Mountain Tailorbirds, feisty Yellow-cheeked Tits, and the complexly-plumaged Chestnut-tailed Minla. And in the summit bog, skulkers like Rufous-throated Partridge, Pygmy Cupwing, and the usually elusive White-crowned Forktail also blessed us with excellent views. Further north, we danced along the border between Thailand and Myanmar on Doi Ang Khang and Doi Lang, picking up yet more fabulous birds in the process. On Ang Khang, we enjoyed Black-breasted and Dark-sided thrushes scrabbling around in a dank, mucky hollow, a Yellow-bellied Flowerpecker teed up atop a tall pine, and numerous Spot-winged Grosbeaks foraging in flowering trees at the agricultural station, while at the military camp at the border, a male Daurian Redstart, stern-looking Long-tailed and Burmese shrikes, and a surprise Eurasian Wryneck were among the highlights. And on Doi Lang, while the hoped-for Hume's Pheasants were essentially missed, we did tally a bunch of other great birds. On the west slope, Mountain Bamboo-Partridge, Gray-chinned Minivet, Fire-capped Tit (a scarce visitor here), Crested Finchbill, Black-throated Tit, Spot-breasted Parrotbill, White-browed Laughingthrush, Siberian Rubythroat, and numerous flycatchers (Sapphire, Ultramarine, Slaty-backed Little Pied, and Rufous- gorgeted, etc) kept us entertained. And our jaunt up the east slope rewarded us with great looks at Streaked Wren-babbler, Black-eared shrike-Babbler, Scarlet-faced Liocichla, Spectacled Barwing, some delightful Yellow-bellied Fairy Fantails, and a bonus pair of lovely Coral-billed Scimitar-Babblers! By this point, our time in Thailand was rapidly drawing to a close, but we birded right to the end, finishing up our stay at Chiang Saen along the Maekong River, where we enjoyed a pair of River Lapwings on a river island (so technically in Laos), numerous ducks, including a handsome drake Red-crested Pochard on the nearby lakes, hordes of harriers, both Pied and Eastern Marsh, coming into their night roost. And on our final morning, a trip up to the Mae Fa Luang Arboretum treated us to a bunch of unusual thrushes, including Gray-winged Blackbird, Gray-sided, Chestnut, Eyebrowed, Dusky, and Naumann's (a rarity here) thrushes. A fitting finale to a wonderful trip. A final thank you to our amazing ground crew who always make traveling in Thailand such a pleasure. And to Uthai, from whom I continue to learn so much about the Thai avifauna. And many thanks to all of you, too, for joining us on this adventure. I hope this trip has left you with many wonderful memories of the birds, places, and people of this lovely country. I look forward to seeing you all again on another tour. --Jay KEYS FOR THIS LIST One of the following keys may be shown in brackets for individual species as appropriate: * = heard only, I = introduced, E = endemic, N = nesting, a = austral migrant, b = boreal migrant BIRDS Anatidae (Ducks, Geese, and Waterfowl) LESSER WHISTLING-DUCK (Dendrocygna javanica) – In most places they were seen, they were generally in big flocks, though usually fairly distant. We finally got decent close views at the lakes around Chiang Saen. COTTON PYGMY-GOOSE (Nettapus coromandelianus) – Just two sightings both involving 4 birds. We had a quartet of these tiny geese both at the Km 80 fish ponds on our way from Kaeng Krachan to Khao Yai, and then our final day at Nong Luang. GARGANEY (Spatula querquedula) – Twenty or more distant birds at Bang Tabun, then a much better scope view of a lone bird at Nong Luang. All were in eclipse pluamge. [b] NORTHERN SHOVELER (Spatula clypeata) – There were probably more, but all we could pick out among all the distant ducks at Bang Tabun was a single pair.